Balancing Unemployment and Psychache: An Individual Cross-Sectional Survey in People with Multi-Comorbidity

Background: Suicide represents a challenging societal question. There is a correlation between multi-comorbidity (mental, addictive, social, and physical) and excess suicide. Aside from recognizing this correlation, our understanding of employment’s impact on psychache in adults with the multi-comorbidity of schizophrenia and multi-substance use disorders remains incomplete. Methods: This individual survey of 88 inpatients (with multi-comorbidity) examined the hypothetical impact of preadmission employment on psychache intensity. Fifty of them (56.8%) reported being employed prior to admission, while thirty-eight of them (43.2%) reported they were not. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in this survey before inclusion. Results: The findings demonstrated that the connection between general self-efficacy and current psychache intensity is dependent on the subjects’ preadmission employment status, with a stronger negative correlation observed in subjects who worked prior to admission (p < 0.001). Employment status provided the moderator variable in the association between general self-efficacy and current psychache intensity (p < 0.001). Conclusions: These measures are crucial for balancing work and psychache as well as translating the findings regarding the social nature of health and well-being into real-world application of suicide prevention in individuals with multi-comorbidity.